South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

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Elections School Funding SF School Board Member SF School District Sioux Falls

Is the Sioux Falls School District recruiting school board candidates?

l3wis 2Comments

This is pretty odd coming from an organization that does everything in their power to make sure nobody votes in their elections. There was also the illegal finance report they filed and edited. There is also the dubious school bond election where the citizens voted in the Putin Bonds (Lalley said the results of the election seemed Soviet). I don’t think Carly and Nan want to run again and they are looking for replacements. Also, just a note, when asking folks to get involved with local government, try not to schedule that meeting conflicting with another local body (City Council Meeting). I see this often where the school board will have an important meeting at the same time as the city or county. Can you folks coordinate? I know the mayor meets with the Super on a regular basis (probably working out more closed government strategies). I was glad to see Nold replacing Stavem, but why didn’t they just hire him before Stavem? The things this body does in executive session really makes you scratch your head.

Denny Sanford Premier Center Downtown Sioux Falls Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

What is the difference between an Advisory Election and a Bond Election?

l3wis 2Comments

First the definitions;

An advisory question is a type of ballot measure that is non-binding, meaning the outcome of the ballot measure has no legal effect on a state’s laws. This type of ballot measure is also known as an advisory referendum, advisory vote, or non-binding ballot measure.

A Bond Election is a type of ballot measure in which voters decide whether to authorize a local government to issue bonds to pay for specific projects or services. It is typically used to fund public works projects such as roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The money raised by the bond issue is usually repaid by raising taxes or other revenue sources. Bond elections are often held in conjunction with other elections, such as municipal or county elections.

We had an advisory election with the Events Center. After citizens voted 54% in favor of building the Denty the city council had to take LEGAL action to take out the bonds, in which they did.

If the election was an actual ‘bond election’ it would have taken a 60% passage to pull the bonds, and since this is a LEGAL election, there would be very little action from the city council to initiate those bonds because the citizens LEGALLY approved the bonds in a LEGAL election.

I am often saying that an advisory vote is actually ILLEGAL because NO LEGAL action is being taken by the public in an election. I have encouraged councilors to have a LEGAL bond election with the Rec bonds and CC bonds. First it makes their job that much easier and secondly you are giving citizens the ability to tax themselves if they choose to (we will need an extra penny sales tax in order for the bonds on the CC to work).

If the city pulls an advisory election on the CC, I encourage any local attorney to sue the city for their ILLEGAL election.

Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Quality of Life Bonds SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

The Predictability of the Sioux Falls City Council is painful to watch

l3wis 6Comments

Former City Councilor Big T wrote an excellent letter to the editor about how the citizens need to vote on the new parks’ expenditures.

I would agree, $77 million dollars in expenses needs to be decided by the voters and I am surprised that most of the council wouldn’t be pushing for a special election to approve these bonds. They will sit and cry and wring their hands about making these gigantic decisions when they can just easily call for an election and wipe their hands of it.

But the pool debate and some of the other debates the new council has been having has been soooo predictable. They pretend they are ‘concerned’ about the expenditures then vote for them anyway. They are NOT concerned and all these media games they have been playing (because someone may be running for mayor) is just smoke and mirrors. They have done this for decades before they have to do a big project. They promise all kinds of cost cutting and savings then once the project gets approved there are massive cost overruns and add ons. EVERY SINGLE TIME! Just look at the Ice Bunker Ribbon; Supposed to be a $4 million dollar project that turned into a $16 million dollar project (the donor must have needed a bigger tax write-off).

The council is going to make it ‘LOOK’ like they are on our side when it comes to financial concerns, but if they were TRULY listening, they would call a special election, but just like the predictability of their policy decisions, I will predict they will forgo the special election, and likely do an ILLEGAL advisory election with the Convention Center tying the two projects together to better SELL it to the public. I guarantee this is what they are cooking up. They did it with the Pavilion and Convention Center, it’s an old playbook.

Not only do we need to demand a special election for both projects we need it to be a LEGAL bond election where it only passes with 60% of the vote.

I would love to blog more about city politics, but the predictability lately has been a gigantic yawn. Oh, but I guess the mayoral candidates are all jockeying for positions, but I think the Skabs and their less then flattering boozer texts may be instigating all of this.

Elections Former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut Former Mayor Coors Light & Olives Mayor Almost Done Mayor Grump Toad Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Mayor Race

My latest conspiracy

l3wis 2Comments

All the talk lately about who may run for mayor and the possible appointment of Erickson had me thinking. Even though Huether has been out of office for 8 years, there is plenty of ‘bad press’ surrounding his previous term that is still fresh. I guess what I am trying to say it will be hard for him to defend his reputation.

So what is my conspiracy theory? I don’t think he is running, BUT, I think he has been mentoring a candidate and will likely run their campaign. If this person wins (I have NO guesses, but I’m sure it’s some stuffed shirt banker) this would set up an opportunity for Huether to be chief of staff (which basically means he would be running the city like the current COS does).

I base my theory on NO evidence, but a gut feeling about how he operates.

I will admit though, if he does run again, I would rather listen to him talk every night on TV instead the Orange Menace.

Alex Jensen Christine Erickson Count-cilor Alex Jensen Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut Former Mayor Coors Light & Olives Marshall Selberg Mayor Almost Done Mayor Grump Toad Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mayor TenHaken Potsdam Mayor Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Mayor Race

Who is running for Mayor of Sioux Falls?

l3wis 3Comments

The guy who runs Dakota Wuss College thinks he knows who is running for mayor. He basically lifted my predictions that I have had since this summer. You are welcome. But Pitty brings up 3 new names that made me laugh so hard I just about passed out. While we know Erickson, Beck, and Huether will probably run, Pitty says that Councilors Jensen, Merkouris and Selberg are also considering. Pitty says they will have trouble raising money, but it’s NOT money they need to worry about, it is their reputations;

• While Alex was city councilor he gutted the internal audit department to one auditor that basically sends emails to an outside firm. This all came about because he couldn’t properly discipline a city council employee for poor attendance and she ran off to the finance department escaping punishment and got a raise from the mayor to boot. If this guy can’t manage ONE employee, he certainly can’t manage a city. If he announces I will probably piss my pants laughing.

• Oh Marshall. This guy ILLEGALLY lived out of his district for a year (verified by one of his friends) and lied on campaign finance forms. He doesn’t belong in the Mayor’s office, he belongs in a jail cell.

• Rich Merkouris has a pretty clean record, but if you dig, just a little, into his past, you will see he isn’t really respected in the clergy community because of past grifting of a church. It’s a long complicated story that happened several years ago, but the wounds are still fresh, and if you ask the right people, you will get the story.

While I think none of these people are dumb enough to run for mayor, they might. And trust me, I have years and years of proof and data on ALL of the candidates and none of it is good. I think Erickson will rise to the top quickly and will be in the runoff, but who is the darkhorse? Huether may run on the great Trump comeback. Which I find funny, he got the same number of votes in 2020 and 2016.

Greg Jamison told me this summer he would likely not run, and it’s not for the reasons you may think. Greg told me he just wants to spend more time with his family and grandkids, and who can blame him?

I told someone recently that I hope a well intentioned rich person runs for mayor with a good record of community engagement and charity and they will run away with the mayorship. Populism is where it is at these days and no one is interested in electing old (corrupt) hats.

I have a feeling our next mayor will be someone no one has heard of.

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